BarbriSFCourseDetails
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Course Details

Course Information
  • smart_display Format

    On-Demand

  • signal_cellular_alt Difficulty Level

  • work Practice Area

    Class Action and Other Litigation

Date & Time
  • event Date

    Thursday, March 24, 2022

  • schedule Time

    1:00 p.m. ET./10:00 a.m. PT

  • timer Program Length

    90 minutes

Credit Information

  • This 90-minute webinar is eligible in most states for 1.5 CLE credits.

$297.00
CLE
ALL

This CLE course will explain how trial attorneys in high stakes litigation can navigate such things as client or witness illegal activity related or unrelated to the case, suspected witness or client perjury, changing stories, and suspicious activities, but still ethically represent the client. A former Assistant United States Attorney and a seasoned trial lawyer will discuss how to ethically, effectively, and successfully defend seemingly indefensible claims and avoid professional malfeasance.

Faculty

Peter J. Biging
Partner
Goldberg Segalla

Mr. Biging is an accomplished trial and appellate attorney with more than 30 years of experience as a litigator in the state and federal courts of New York. As co-chair of the firm’s nationwide Management and Professional Liability practice group, he counsels and defends directors and officers against claims alleging fraud, negligence, and breach of fiduciary duties, and a variety of professionals against claims based on alleged errors and omissions (E&O) in the performance of their professional services. Mr. Biging also regularly litigates labor and employment practices liability claims, commercial disputes, and municipal liability claims premised on alleged civil and constitutional violations.

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Michael S. Ross
Principal
Law Offices Of Michael S. Ross

Mr. Ross concentrates his practice in attorney ethics. He is a former Assistant United States Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Southern District of New York and also served as an Assistant District Attorney in Kings County. Mr. Ross has been an Adjunct Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School since 1980 (where he teaches Fall and Spring Semester courses in Litigation Ethics). He has also taught a variety of trial practice and judicial administration courses as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Brooklyn Law School since 2005 (where he teaches year-round Fall, Spring and Summers courses in Professional Responsibility). In addition, in three and a half decades of teaching at Cardozo Law School, he has taught a variety of ethics, trial practice and judicial administration courses. Mr. Ross is a frequent lecturer and author on topics involving ethics, trial practice and criminal law for such organizations as the Practicing Law Institute, the Appellate Divisions, First and Second Departments, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the New York State Judicial Institute, the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, the New York State Bar Association, the New York County Lawyers’ Association, the New York State Association of Trial Lawyers and the New York State Academy of Trial Lawyers.

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Description

Every lawyer is faced at some point with seemingly an "indefensible" claim or claims. A client may have failed to act under good and accepted standards, customs, and practices of a professional in their field, or a client may have engaged in misconduct. Sometimes counsel must represent a client whose conduct is unlawful and immoral and has resulted in horrific harm, that is repulsive to the attorney. Sometimes what makes a claim seem indefensible is the client.

Plaintiffs' lawyers may also find themselves seeking damages that occurred while their client engaged in illegal or objectionable activities. Counsel must understand the extend and limits privilege and the duty to keep information confidential. Sometimes attorneys do not find out until well into the case—after critical evidence has been disclosed-- that the client’s actions could result in criminal charges.

But ethical, effective, and successful strategies exist even in such complex or hopeless cases. In carrying them out, defense counsel must be ever mindful of ethical obligations owed to many participants.

Listen as our renowned panel guides counsel through the most challenging types of cases, whether in federal or state court.

Outline

  1. Characteristics of indefensible cases and the ethical issues and concerns presented
    • Defining characteristics and concerns
    • The ethical issues and concerns presented
  2. Providing zealous representation
    • Assessing whether you can provide the requisite zealous representation
    • Understanding the boundaries of what you can and cannot do
    • The attorney-client privilege and the crime/fraud exception
  3. Defense strategies
    • Maneuvering to early settlement
    • Handling media/publicity
    • Pursuing technical defenses
    • Mechanics of defending such cases

Benefits

The panel will discuss these and other essential issues:

  • If optional, should counsel ever choose/choose not to take an indefensible case?
  • Should counsel withdraw upon learning facts that render the case indefensible?
  • What should counsel look for in a jury in "indefensible" cases?
  • Does pursuing technical defenses hurt or help the case?